Product Description
Why would anyone say ''Let's stick wires into someone's brain, run voltage through it, and see what happens!'' So asks Jackie Hunt Christensen in Life With a Battery-Operated Brain: A Patient's Guide to Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery for Parkinson s Disease. Author Christensen answers this question -- and more -- in her unique and comprehensive book, as she has first-hand knowledge of the procedure commonly referred to as DBS. She herself lived with Parkinson's disease for more than seven years before electing to be evaluated for DBS surgery. It was not a fast and easy choice. For Christensen, a fear of DBS surgery -- which involves placing one or two electrical wires inside the brain -- and its potential complications had to be weighed against quality of life without the surgery, a life of increasing parkinsonian symptoms and a growing pharmacopeia of medications, which might help control her symptoms but which could have devastating long-term effects on her body. Ultimately, she was deemed a good candidate for the surgery, and DBS seemed like her only logical option -- a choice that has been validated post-surgery, as Christensen now enjoys life with most of her motor symptoms well controlled. Parkinson's disease, the author is quick to point out, does not end, but DBS is meant to be a long-term treatment. Jackie Hunt Christensen offers a step-by-step look at her own journey, as well as offering information on a typical evaluation process, medical statistics, questions to ask neurosurgeons, opinions from other DBS patients, the programming process for DBS, and much more. Life With a Battery-Operated Brain is a must-read for those who are considering deep brain stimulation and for those who love them.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 1 review)

Book written BY patient and FOR patients by Kate Kelsall (Denver, CO)

5 Stars
August 19, 2009
Being a Parkinson's patient myself who has also had Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery, I appreciated this book for the following reasons: · It is written BY a DBS patient and FOR patients and their families considering DBS. · It provides an easy-to-understand, step-by step guide through the entire DBS process (DBS is not an event, but a process, says the author). · The book provides checklists of questions to ask the neurosurgeon, programmer, and others involved in the DBS process. · The book has illustrations, photos, appendices with links to other valuable information, with excerpts from the author's personal journals and opinions from other DBS patients. · The book includes topics such as the DBS evaluation process, making the decision, the logical tasks required in preparing for surgery including psychological preparedness, the impact on the family, a detailed description of what actually happens in surgery, the programming process, care and maintenance of DBS, side effects of DBS and alternatives to DBS. · It gives power back to DBS patients, arming them with information and questions that they might not have considered. · It's the kind of book that I wish had existed when I was going through DBS. I highly recommend this practical guide to DBS. In fact, I liked the book so much that I wish I had written it myself.

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